Packed lunches often not more nutritious than school lunches

School lunches, like this one with whole wheat tortilla tacos, broccoli, juice and milk, must follow federal nutrition rules.

School lunches, like this one with whole wheat tortilla tacos,...

In the food fight between school cafeteria meals and brown-bag lunches, school food is winning - at least when it comes to nutrition.

A study from Tufts University revealed that the food in children's lunchboxes is a lot less healthy than cafeteria lunches and snacks, which are held to federal nutrition standards. Schools must provide specific amounts of milk, fruits, vegetables, grains and protein. Packed lunches, the study found, included more convenience foods, more sugary beverages and desserts, and more calories.

Researchers examined the lunchbox contents of more than 600 third- and fourth-graders from six school districts and published their findings in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The median number of items in a packed lunch was three - often a sandwich, a beverage, and a snack food like crackers, chips or trail mix. Water, found in 28 percent of lunches, was slightly more common than soda, which was in 24 percent.

"Almost a quarter of the lunches lacked what would be considered an entrée, such as a sandwich or leftovers, and were instead made up of a variety of packaged snack foods and desserts," said Jeanne Goldberg, a Tufts professor and the study's lead author, in a statement.

"When deciding what to pack, parents are juggling time, cost, convenience and what is acceptable to their children," Goldberg said. "Unfortunately, these factors are not always in harmony with good nutrition."

Here are the numbers:

1

Cups of milk, ounces of grain and ounces of meat or other protein a school lunch must include, according to the National School Lunch Program, which subsidizes the cost of school lunches. Meals must also contain three-quarters of a cup of vegetables and a half-cup of fruit, not including fruit juice.

27%

The percentage of lunches students brought from home that met at least three of the five National School Lunch Program nutrition standards.

4%

The percentage of snacks brought from home that met at least two of the four Child and Adult Food Care Program nutrition standards: a serving of milk, a fruit or vegetable, a grain and a protein. This federal program reimburses qualifying day care centers and after-school programs for the cost of healthy snacks.

41%

The percentage of U.S. elementary schoolchildren who bring their lunches to school on any given day; 45 percent bring snacks, according to the Tufts study authors.